Snow and ice belt for roofs

ABSTRACT

A SERIES OF INTERLOCKING SHEETS ADAPTED TO BE ARRANGED ON THE ROOF OF A BUILDING ADJACENT THE EAVES, SAID SHEETS HAVING THE PROPERTY OF EXPANDING AND CONTRACTING UNDER CONDITIONS OF HEAT AND COLD.

Sept. 28, 1971 THERlAULT 3,608,253

SNOW AND ICE BELT FOR ROOFS Filed Oct. 16, 1959 United States Patent F I3,608,253 Patented Sept. 28, 1971 3,608,253 SNOW AND ICE BELT FOR ROOFSGeorge R. Theriault, 580 S. Main St., Orange, Mass. 01364 Filed Oct. 16,1969, Ser. No. 866,871 Int. Cl. E04b 7/16; E04d 3/40, 13/06 US. C].52-24 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Asis well known, in cold climates the roof of a house is apt to accumulateice at the eaves, the ice sometimes becoming very thick and resulting inheavy icicles whether or not a rain trough is present. On warm days, orin the sun, some of this ice, or even a heavy snow, is apt to melt andback up under the shingles, creating a very bad condition resulting indry rot.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a permanent and verysimple ice and snow belt arranged about the roof at the eaves, this beltbeing made in such a way as to obviate the back-up of the melt water andas a matter of fact to obviate ice and snow accumulations as well asicicles.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention provides a series of sheets ofmaterial which are interlocked together at their edges and nailed to theroof in certain fully concealed areas providing for expansion andcontraction under the snow and ice which piles up at the eaves. Thisexpansion and contraction gradually works the ice and snow in such a wayas to cause it to slip off the roof preventing a pile-up of ice and alsoicicles so that there is no possibility of any backup of melt waterunder the eaves.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a view in elevationillustrating the ice and snow belt as applied to a shingled roof;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of one of the sheets going to make up the snow andice belt;

FIG. 3 is an edge view looking in the direction of arrow 3 in FIG. 2 butalso illustrating the application of the end piece and the next sheet ofmaterial, and

FIG. 4 is a view in side elevation looking in the direction of arrow 4in FIG. 2.

'PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION Referring first to FIGS. 2, 3 and4, there is shown as at a sheet of material preferably aluminum,galvanized iron or some kind of plastic which has been bent to form aright-angled straight edge extending upright at 12 and at the oppositeedge thereof an inverted V-shaped edge member 14. Between edges 12 and14 at the front thereof there is a depending and rearwardly bent backedge member 16 at the opposite side of the sheet of material 10 from theupturned edges 12 and 14. The rear edge of the sheet of material 10 at18 is straight and cut plain and the downwardly extending reversely bentedging at 16 extends to the right to a small extent as is indicated at20.

The sheet 10 is impressed, bent or distorted to provide a very low fiatpyramid having an apex at 22. As illustrated in the drawings, thispyramid has four sides extending from the front, the two side edges, andthe rear, but there may of course be a greater number or even a lessnumber of these sides extending to the apex at 22 than as describedherein.

The first section of the sheet material is indicated at A in FIG. 1.This is set at the edge of the roof in conjunction with a side edgepiece of appropriate length which is indicated at 24. This piece has afinish edge 26 and an inverted V-shaped bent edge 28 which extends alongthe edge of sheet A. As shown in FIG. 3, the inverted V edge at 28extends under the inverted V edge at 14 and these are then crimpedtogether, the strip 24 having been secured to the edge of the roof inany desired manner. Then a few nails as at 30 are applied to the sheet Aadjacent the rear edge thereof to be later overlain by a course or twoof shingles 32, these. shingles being well known, so that the nail headsare completely covered and protected.

The straight edge 12 is then overlain by the next inverted V edge 14 ofthe succeeding sheet labeled B in FIG. 1 and 10 in FIG. 3. The invertedV construction 14' is crimped down onto the edge 12 and if desired somesimple straps 32 may be placed in underlying position with respectto theinverted V-shaped construction 14 and over the straight upstanding strip12, so that these strips upon being nailed down will be seen to hold inconjunction with the nails and the edge stripping 28, three edges ofstrip A. The outstanding tab at 20 is of the same shape as shown at 16in FIG. 4 and interlocks with the rear side of this strip 16 in the areaat 34 in FIG. 3.

It will be seen that all of the parts are closely and tightlyinterlocked. There can be no leakage because no nail holes or any otherfastenings or apertures are exposed, and each sheet overlies each othersheet at the edges thereof, the rear edges being overlain by theordinary shingles.

With this ice and snow belt applied to the roof along the eaves,continued warmth and cold as between day and night or between sunny andcloudy periods, will cause the material of the various members A, B, C,etc. to expand and contract and in effect vibrate to such an extent thatthe ice and snow is loosened and slides olf preventing the build-up ofany excess ice in large masses and also preventing the formation oficicles.

I claim:

1. The combination of a roof for a building, said roof having eaveportions, and an ice and snow removal belt applied to the roof adjacentthe eave portions thereof, said ice and snow removal belt extendingalong said eave exteriorly of the roof and exposed to the weather, andbeing characterized by the capability of expanding and contracting underconditions of cold and heat, alternately, said ice and snow removal beltcomprising a row of interlocking metallic sheets, each sheet including agenerally centrally arranged raised portion spaced from the roof andportions surrounding the raised portion in substantial contact with theroof, at least the raised portion of each sheet tending to flex underexpansion in conditions of relative atmospheric heat and contractionunder conditions of relative atmospheric cold, thereby to disturboverlying ice and snow for otherwise. unassisted removal each sheet'alsoincluding at the forward edge thereof a downwardly extending inwardlybent terminal portion.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein said downwardly extending.inwardly bent terminal portion extends laterally from one edge of itssheet and interlocks with the next adjacent sheet in the area of itsterminal portion.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Douglas 5294 Heerwagen 52588XMarsi 52588 Snead 5294 Bowser 5294 Strange 5224 Ensor 52588X Gillis52544X HENRY C. SUTHERLAND, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R.

